Evite readies brand relaunch as it joins the e-commerce party
Already synonymous with online invitations, Evite is looking to take its e-commerce capabilities to the next level. This push away from ads and into D2C product offerings will be accompanied by a full brand relaunch in 2022. Looking to lure in more millennials, Evite will be unwrapping a new digital look and feel, user interface, logo and ad campaign to adjoin a flurry of new products. Here’s what you need to know.
Evite is looking to tap into a millennial market with its new product offerings
If you’ve sent an Evite lately, you might have noticed something. There are less ads. Eighty percent less, in fact. And, you may have also noticed an increase in premium invite options, party planning services and e-gift cards.
That’s because this 23-year-old brand is now all-in on creating new e-commerce options built around the concept of ‘modern gifting’. Having already locked up 80% of the online invitation marketplace, Evite is looking at revenue drivers such gift registries and other premium D2C offerings as its core business.
This is all part of Evite’s plan to attract millennial users by “layering more things into the experience that make it more effortless to come together,” says Evite chief executive Victor Cho. The millennial cohort is a natural target given the flurry of engagements, bachelor and bachelorette parties, weddings and births.
To accommodate this highly desirable demographic, new innovations including an ‘Ask the Host’ option are on the way this year and next. ‘Ask the Host’ allows the user to create a discrete list of 10 presents that their child might want for their birthday. “At a very high level, it facilitates that exchange of information between the host and guests so that that they can have a little more guidance, as opposed to what they do now, which is send a zillion text messages,” says Cho.
As the products and services evolve, so too will the brand. Karen Graham, formerly of Nordstrom, was brought on two months ago as Evite’s vice-president of marketing and brand. She is joined by as many as 10 new marketing hires. Together they are working on a “radical leveling-up of our brand, our invitations and our look and feel,” says Cho.
It’s no secret that the current Evite brand looks dated, so a new user interface, logo and ad campaign is on deck for Q1. The rebrand will be promoted heavily on Instagram and Facebook and promoted via paid search and Evite’s massive e-mail database of 80 million users. Connected TV ads are also being considered.
At the same time, Evite has also made important changes to its tech stack. The company has heralded Google Cloud and SADA for helping create efficiencies and flexibility with products such as its unlimited virtual parties, e-gift cards, party planning services and, of course, invitations.
Perhaps, most importantly, its bread-and-butter invitations will be spruced up as well. Evite is currently sourcing thousands of designs from social media creators with specific illustration, animation and handwriting styles. “Digital natives have completely different expectations than those that didn’t grow up that way,” says Graham. “So the aesthetic is incredibly important.”
All of the changes come as the company sees triple-digit growth after experiencing the doldrums of lockdown. Cho is expecting continued high volumes despite the Delta variant. “We’re really going to index on face-to-face gatherings because there is pent-up energy – even the introverts are going to come out and party.”